Breadcrumbs

Information Technology

Berkshire On-Line Municipal Building Permits

Grant funds allowed the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to work with seven communities to develop an online building permitting system. Funds were utilized to purchase software and field equipment and to implement the program.

Central Massachusetts Regional Electronic Permitting

This is the first regional e-permitting program proposed for Southern Worcester County, and has an original focus of smaller towns with limited staff capacities and limited funding to adopt, implement, and maintain e-permitting on their own. Funds would provide year 1 start-up costs for the nine participating towns. The program will streamline the permit process for municipal employees to dramatically reduce the time staff send processing permits, getting appropriate sign offs from other departments, tracking permit review and answering questions. Additionally, applicants will have the ability to submit permit applications, pay permit fees, schedule and/or request inspections and conduct other business via the internet.

Cloud-based Open Source Integrated Municipal Financial Management

The Community Software Consortium (CSC) is a nonprofit group established over 20 years ago to assist communities with their financial reporting requirements in the Division of Local Services (DLS)’s Gateway reporting system. Working with the Town of Royalston as the lead, the CSC utilized grant funds to establish cloud-based assessing and tax collecting systems.

Funding Amount: $290,710

Participating entities: Town of Royalston (Lead), and other municipal members of the Community Software Consortium (CSC)

Commonwealth Citizens Connect App Development for Local Governments Across Massachusetts

In 2009, the City of Boston developed a smart phone application to allow residents to report non-emergency issues, such as potholes, to local government. Grant funds were utilized to bring this type of technology to 46 other communities from across the Commonwealth.

Digital Regionalization: Permit, License, and Inspection Automation

The Cape Cod Commission received funding to develop a regional system of online permits. The Commission procured the services of the vendor Acela to establish an automated solution for all permits and licenses issued by each of the participating communities.

Hampshire Cloud

This program will establish a cost effective regional information technology infrastructure and will allow three participating entities to convert their current information technology infrastructure to a cloud computing environment and produce a documented implementation structure for additional municipalities. This will be accomplished through a regional planning effort, shared resources, and the utilization of substantial investments made by the Commonwealth, including broadband.

Funding Amount: $80,000

Participating entities: Hampshire Council of Governments (Lead); Towns of Chesterfield and Hadley

Hampshire Council Final Report

Electronic Weights and Measures Inspection

Each year, all towns and cities in the Commonwealth are required to perform inspections of scales and other measurement systems, such as gas pumps. Many smaller communities spend high sums of money on hiring contractors. Four communities will work together to jointly procure and implement an electronic weights and measures inspection program which includes specific software and hardware that would be used by each community, as well as training inspectors and other related staff to use the new software and hardware. Several of the participating communities have a history of municipal collaboration and they are examining additional opportunities to increase operational efficiencies and better service delivery.

Regionally Improving Citizen Access and Service Delivery

Beginning in 2007, the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission formed the Merrimack Valley Mayors and Managers Coalition to collaborate and develop regional solutions with a main objective of helping communities collectively manage common tasks. Around the same time, a group of regional department of public works (DPW) officials identified common needs for improving administrative functions, including workload management, strategic asset management, and citizen response and customer satisfaction. This program will allow the communities to develop a regionalized computer maintenance management system.

Malden 311 and Workers’ Compensation Reentry Program

Funds will be used to obtain and measure data produced by a 311 Call Center. The center will be staffed in a truly innovative fashion, as some of the call center staff will consist of existing administrative employees currently working in different departments, as well as other employees who are presently out of work collecting Workers’ Compensation benefits who are unable to return to work due to disability. It will qualify as “light duty,” enabling their return to work.

Municipal Open Checkbook System

Building on the success of the Commonwealth’s Open Checkbook portal (www.mass.gov/OpenCheckbook), this group of cities developed a platform to increase transparency by providing municipal finance data on municipal websites.

Funding Amount: $120,000

Participating entities: Cities of Woburn (Lead), Chelsea, Chicopee, and Revere; Town of Brookline